/l- 


BV  657  .C6  1859 

Coxe,  A.  Cleveland  1818- 

1896. 
The  church  and  the  press 


€!)e  Cljurcl)  anli  tlje  press : 

OB, 

CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE 
THE  INHERITANCE  OF  THE  CHURCH, 


AND 


THE  PRESS  AN  EDUCATOR  AND  AN  EVANGELIST. 


A.  serm:o  j^ 

PRKACHED  IN  RICHMOND,  A.T  ST.  PAUL'S  CHTIRCH,  OCTOBER  12,  1859 

AT   THE 

©le&cnllj  (Trwnmal  Qlcctiitg  of  llje  ^.  ^.  Itnioit  anb 
BY  A.  CLEVEIiANDCOXE, 

Rector  of  Grace  Church,  Baltimore. 


NEW-YORK: 
General  Protestant  Episcopal  S.  S.  Union  and  Church  Book  Society, 

No.    762    BROADWAY. 


1859. 


SERMON. 


**  Moreover,  because  the  Preacher  was  wise,  he  still  taught  the  people  know- 
ledge.''   EccLES.  xii.  9. 

The  policy  of  increasing  religious  knowledge 
by  books  of  human  authorship,  originated  with 
the  wisest  of  mankind.  He  was  a  penman  of 
the  sacred  oracles.  In  the  dark  sayings  of  his 
Proverbs,  in  the  melody  of  his  Canticles,  and  in 
the  sublime  morals  of  his  Ecclesiastes,  spake 
the  Everlasting  Word.  But,  of  his  own  lofty 
enterprise,  he  was  the  father  of  the  Hebrew 
literature.  As  such,  he  is  the  source  to  which  the 
literature  of  Christians  traces  its  majestic  current. 
His  works,  as  we  learn  elsewhere,  were  those  of 
the  moralist,  the  natural  philosopher,  and  the  poet. 
And  in  the  context  the  Spirit  of  inspiration  sets  a 
seal  to  the  inferior  wisdom  of  his  human  author- 
ship, in  permitting  him  to  say  of  it  —  "the 
Preacher  sought  to  find  out  acceptable  words ! 


4         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

and  that  which  was  written  was  upright,  even 
words  of  truth."  Such  words,  though  uttered 
only  by  the  written  page,  he  invests  with  the 
character  of  sermons.  They  are,  he  affirms, 
"  like  goads  and  nails,  fastened  by  the  masters 
of  assemblies  ;"  like  the  pointed  sayings  and 
tenacious  principles,  driven  into  the  consciences 
of  great  congregations,  by  masterly  orators. 
Further,  he  argues,  that  all  good  words  pro- 
ceed from  the  "  one  Shepherd  "  and  Bishop  of 
souls,  the  Word  of  God.  Moreover,  while  he  an- 
ticipates the  objection  that  ''  much  study  is  a 
weariness  to  the  flesh,"  and  that  "  of  making 
many  books  there  is  no  end,"  he  yet  exhorts  the 
young  to  be  instructed  by  such  words  as  prepare 
the  soul  for  duty  and  for  judgment.  In  this 
way,  the  royal  author  seems  to  vindicate  his 
own  title  of  "  the  Preacher ;"  and  we  infer  the 
principle  that  good  books  are  great  preachers. 
The  Society  which  has  made  me  its  advocate 
is  the  Institution  of  a  past  generation.  It  is 
already  venerable  and  historical,  as  owing  its 
existence  to  eminent  divines  and  preachers  who 
have  passed  away.  "By  it,  they  being  dead, 
yet  speak  ;"  and  "  because  they  were  wise,  they 
still  teach  the  people  knowledge."  I  present  the 
claims  of  a  Christian  press,  of  tried  usefulness, 
but  entirely  unendowed,  and  not  too  liberally  sup- 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    PRESS.  5 

ported.  I  shall  endeavour  to  persuade  you  that 
it  ought  to  he  promoted  to  the  front  rank  of  our 
aggressive  agencies ;  that,  on  a  greatly  enlarged 
scale  of  operation,  it  should  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  the  educated  mind  of  our  countrymen, 
and  upon  the  mind  which  is  now  in  process  of 
education :  and  first  of  all,  I  shall  try  to  show 
that,  for  the  present  crisis  at  least,  while  we 
lack  living  preachers,  we  must  make  the  Press 
a  missionary,  and  trust  to  it,  under  God,  as  our 
grand  resource. 

In  urging  this  consideration,  that  the  Chris- 
tian press  is  a  missionary,  and  may  be  made 
the  instrument  of  multiplying  indefinitely  the 
voices  and  energies  of  your  existing  missionaries, 
I  feel  that  I  have  a  great  advantage  in  the  time 
and  order  of  my  appeal.  I  follow  the  stirring 
addresses  and  sermons  of  fathers  and  brethren 
who  have  warmed  your  hearts,  and  enlarged 
them  to  the  vastness  and  glory  of  the  missionary 
work.  Powerfully  have  they  impressed  you 
with  a  view  of  the  destitution,  the  unbelief, 
the  utter  irreligion  of  many  parts  of  our  land. 
Where  are  the  preachers  ?  Lord  Jesus — send 
forth  labourers !  But,  till  this  cry  is  answered 
are  we  to  do  nothing  ?  I  read  that  "  wisdom 
strengtheneth  the  wise  more  than  ten  mighty 
men  ;"  and  I  ursre  the  counsel  of  the  Preacher 


6  THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

to  teach  Christian  knowledge  and  wisdom  by 
books  and  tracts.  These  are  the  goads  and  nails 
which  for  the  present  must  be  pointed  and  fast- 
ened upon  the  minds  of  our  countrymen.  1 
claim,  then,  for  my  subject  something  of  that 
devout  interest  with  which  you  have  listened  to 
appeals  in  behalf  of  Missions.  I  speak  in  the 
same  cause ;  I  plead  for  the  means  to  multiply 
the  energies  and  the  achievements  of  your  pas- 
tors and  evangelists. 

I  fear  that,  as  a  Church,  we  have  underesti- 
mated the  Press  :  I  am  sure  we  have  not  suffi- 
ciently employed  it:  I  feel  that  we  ought  to 
wake  up  to  the  wealth  of  our  literary  resources, 
and  .to  the  power  we  might  exert  by  bringing 
them  out,  and  making  them  known  and  felt. 
True,  nothing  can  supply  the  place  of  the  living 
preacher ;  the  steward  of  Christ's  mysteries  ;  the 
ambassador  of  heaven  :  and  we  are  justly  jealous 
of  those  exaggerated  eulogies  of  the  Press,  which 
are  popular,  because  they  flatter  souls  in  the 
delusive  idea  that  they  may  spare  themselves  the 
pains  of  communion  with  the  Church,  and  be 
scriptural  Christians  by  reading  good  books,  in 
their  own  houses.  Besides,  we  have  seen,  in 
our  day,  such  abuses  of  the  Press  as  beget  reac- 
tionary fears.  Hence,  many  seem  to  have  a  feel- 
inof  that  the  Press  is  a  creature  which  "  is  not 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    PRESS.  / 

subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither  indeed  can 
be."  They  tremble  at  the  infidel  vaunt,  which 
implies  that  the  invention  of  the  Press  was  a  sur- 
prise upon  Providence  itself ;  that  it  is  an  engine 
which  the  Author  of  the  Gospel  took  not  into 
account ;  an  instrument  which  is  to  undermine 
and  explode  the  Faith  of  Ages.  And  true  it  is, 
that  the  Press  of  our  country  suggests  cause  for 
anxiety  and  alarm.  It  already  battens  upon  pop- 
ular vice  and  passion.  It  is  made  a  tremendous 
agent  of  corruption.  By  night  and  day,  by  the 
untiring  energy  of  steam,  and  as  it  were  with 
the  very  flame  of  Tophet,  it  sends  forth  elements 
of  pollution,  the  most  corrosive.  One  is  tempt- 
ed to  think  that  the  Spirit  of  prophecy  spake  of 
this  mechanical  tongue,  rather  than  of  that 
which  is  the  glory  of  our  frame,  when  He  said — 
"It  is  a  fire  ;  a  world  of  iniquity  ;  it  setteth  on 
fire  the  course  of  nature,  and  it  is  set  on  fire  of 
hell." 

But  bad  as  the  tongue  is,  what  are  we  to  do 
with  it  ?  "  Awake  up,  my  glory  !  I  will  give 
praise  with  the  best  member  that  I  have."  This 
same  tongue  which  cannot  be  tamed  by  man,  is 
tamed  by  God.  His  Holy  Spirit  makes  it  a 
flame  of  Pentecost ;  a  world  of  illumination  and 
of  blessing.  Now  the  law  of  the  tongue  must 
be  the  law  of  the  press :  for  what  is  the  press 


8  THE    CHURCH    A^'D    THE    PRESS. 

but  an   instrument   of    utterance  ?     Words    are 
their  common   product ;  and  written  words  like 
spoken  words,  when  they  are  good,  are  declared 
by    Solomon   to   be    of  the   nature    of  sermons. 
God  employs  the  tongues  of  good  men  to  con- 
found the  Babel-builders  of  irreligion  ;   and  so 
he  can  employ  a  Christian  press  to  overpower 
the  printing  of  the  wicked.     For  there  is,    and 
ever  has  been,  a  supernatural  law  as  to  words  ; 
a  law  of  Providence  which  restrains  those  over- 
flowings of  ungodliness,  which  would  otherwise 
deluge  the  world.     "  The  fruit  of  the  lips"  is  a 
harvest  of  which  God  takes  care  that  he  shall 
have  the  increase.     Humanly  speaking  it  would 
be  impossible  that  the  words  of  a  few  fishermen 
should  prevail  over  the   words  of  all  the  world 
besides  :  but  the  unseen  ^^pirit  has  made  them 
infinitely  superior  to  all  the  "  enticing  words  of 
man's   wisdom."      And   so,  while  the  heathen 
rage,  the  words  of  the  gospel  go  on  to  perpetual 
mastery.     The  servants  of  Christ  may  seem  to 
imitate  their  dear  Master,  and  neither  strive  nor 
cry,  nor  lift  up  their  voice   in  the  streets  ;  yet 
says  the  proverb,  "  The  words  of  the  wise   are 
heard  in  quiet  more  than  the  outcry  of  him  that 
ruleth    among  fools."     Voltaire    and    Rousseau 
make  a  great  noise  in  their  generation  ;  nations 
become  fools  and  enthrone  them  as  rulers ;  but 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.         ^  9 

there  is  such  a  thinof  as  "  the  blastinor  of  the 
breath  of  the  displeasure  of  Jehovah."  Their 
words  are  smitten  with  anathema ;  their  tri- 
umphing is  short,  for  it  is  necessarily  the 
triumph  of  destructiveness  and  blood.  The 
charter  of  a  Christian  press  runs  parallel  with 
that  law  of  God—"  The  lip  of  Truth  shall  be  es- 
tablished forever :  but  a  lying  tongue  is  but  for 
a  moment." 

Let  us  recognize  the  Press,  then,  as  the  gift 
of  God  :  the  earnest  of  his  gracious  promise  that 
in  the  last  days  "  knowledge  shall  be  increased." 
Take  its  actual  history.*  For  four  centuries  it 
has  been  yielding  its  steady  tribute  to  Trath.  No 
wonder  that  the  same  enemy  that  sowed  tares 
with  the  good  seed  of  the  word,  has  made  mis- 
chief here  also  :  but  the  harvest  is  the  Lord's, 
and  so  is  that  vintage  which  this  press  turns  into 
the  new  wine  of  Pentecost.  What  is  called  the 
invention  of  printing,  is  rather  its  Epiphany ; 
its  manifestation.  God  made  it  "  beautiful  in 
its  time."  Men  understood  the  principle  long 
before.^  The  ancients  used  seals  and  dies.  The 
bakers  and  plumbers  of  Pompeii  printed  their 
names  on  loaves  of  bread,  and  leaden  pipes. 
The  major  and  the  minor  were  not  wanting :  but 
God  would  not  let  the  active  mind  of  man  com- 
plete the  syllogism,  till  all  things  were  ready. 

»  See  Xote  A .  ^  See  Note  B. 


10        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

The  promise  was  that  when  many  should  riin  to 
and  fro,  then  knowledge  should  ^be  commensu- 
rately  increased.  At  length,  this  new  era  was  at 
hand.  After  long  darkness — the  dry  land  of  this 
great  continent  was  about  to  appear.  It  was  then 
that  God  said  ''  Let  there  be  light ;"  and  when 
thousands  took  the  wings  of  the  morning  and 
fled  to  these  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  they 
were  able  to  bring  with  them,  in  printed  Bibles, 
the  blessed  assurance  that  even  here  His  hand 
should  hold,  and  His  right  hand  sustain. 

Printing  was  the  gift  of  God  to  his  Church — 
the  angel  that  knocked  off  the  manacles  from 
the  Gospel,  and  brought  St.  Peter  again  out  of 
prison,  to  feed  Christ's  sheep  ;  to  feed  His  lambs. 
Yet  its  power  for  doing  evil  was  foreseen  from  the 
beginning.  As  Friar  Bacon  is  said  to  have  stran- 
gled the  monster  gunpowder,  with  conscientious 
alarm,  in  the  moment  when  the  flash  of  his 
crucible  announced  its  birth,  so  John  Guttem- 
berg  had  great  searchings  of  heart,  with  respect 
to  his  portentous  discovery.  In  the  cloisters  of 
Arbogasta,  a  spirit  passed  before  him,  and 
tempted  him  in  the  guise  of  an  angel  of  light.'' 
It  said — "  John  Guttemberg,  thou  hast  made  thy 
name  immortal,  but  ah  !  at  what  a  price  !  Be- 
think thee,  what  thou  art  doing.  The  ungodly  are 
many  more  than  the  good  :  thy  work   will  but 

"=  See  Note  C. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.         11 

multiply  their  blasphemies  and  lies.  Thou  hast 
uncovered  the  bottomless  pit.  Henceforth  a 
swarm  of  seducing  spirits  shall  come  forth  like 
the  brood  of  Abaddon,  and  make  the  earth  a  hell. 
Ohj  think  of  millions  of  souls  corrupted  by  thine 
exploit :  the  venom  of  fiends  distilled  into  the 
souls  of  tender  maidens,  and  boys  made  old  by 
it,  in  the  experience  of  sin  !  See  mothers  weep- 
ing over  their  demoniac  sons,  and  gray-haired 
fathers  hiding  their  faces  fro]n  the  shame  of 
daughters.  Yes  !  even  the  young  virgin  will  be 
seduced  to  read  what  she  would  never  have  lis- 
tened to  ;  and  thy  press  shall  be  the  pander  of 
lust.  Destroy  it,  John !  Forget  thy  monstrous 
conception :  forbear,  by  multiplying  the  resources 
of  the  wicked,  to  make  thyself,  throughout  all 
ages,  the  partner  of  their  crimes."  From  such  a 
dream  John  Guttemberg  awoke,  and  no  marvel 
that  he  trembled !  He  was  on  the  point  of  burying 
his  secret  in  oblivion  ;  as  the  genie  in  the  Arabian 
tale  shrank  back  into  its  casket,  and  was  engulfed 
by  the  hand  that  had  enlarged  it.  But — "  I  reflect- 
ed," says  the  sublime  discoverer,  "  tha,t  the  gifts 
of  God,  though  often  perilous,  are  never  bad.  I 
saw  that  to  endow  intelligence  with  such  a  fac- 
ulty was  to  open  fresh  fields  to  wisdom  and 
to  goodness,  both  alike  divine.  I  proceeded 
with  my  discovery." 


12         THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

Thank  God,  he  did  so  !  First  of  all,  he  printed 
the  first  Psalm ;  a  prophecy  of  success  to  "  the  man 
who  hath  not  walked  in  the  counsel  of  the  un- 
godly, nor  sat  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful."  It 
promised  that  "  his  leaf  shall  not  wither,"  but  that 
"  as  for  the  ungodly,  it  is  not  so  with  them,  but 
they  are  like  the  chaff  which  the  wind  scattereth 
away."  Such  was  the  charter  of  the  Press,  in 
the  day  when  the  Lord  God  created  it.  He 
made  it  very  good.  He  laid  his  hand  upon  it, 
and  ordained  it :  he  bade  it  be  fruitful  and  mul- 
tiply, and  replenish  the  earth ;  and  lo  !  its  first 
utterance  proclaimed  freedom  to  the  fettered 
Scriptures,     Its  next  voice  was  the  Reformation. 

And  shall  the  Church  of  God  fail  to  recognise 
His  call  to  use  this  noble  augmentation  of  her 
faculties  in  proportion  as  ungodly  men  abuse  it  ? 
All  the  evil  of  which  its  inventor  drea.med,  is 
a  practical  fact  in  this  land.  Mechanical  powers 
and  agencies  of  which  he  had  no  idea  have 
made  manifold  all  the  mischief  suggested  by 
his  vision.  What  then?  So  much  louder  is  the 
cry  to  the  Church,  to  confound  them  by  the  same 
machinery.  Remember,  that  Guttemberg  and 
Columbus  were  men  of  the  same  times ;  the 
Press  was  provided  for  America ;  it  was  an  in- 
strument absolutely  essential  to  the  rapid  civil- 
ization of  this  continent.     And  shall  the  Church 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.        13 

fail  to  use  it  ?  Let  no  man  suggest  our  scanty 
resources,  in  contrast  with  those  of  the  ungodly. 
There  is  a  divine  machinery  working  for  and 
with  the  children  of  light,  of  which  the  men  of 
this  world,  who  are  so  "  wise  in  their  genera- 
tion," fail  to  take  account.  Ezekiel  saw  it  by 
the  river  Chebar.  The  breath  of  the  living  crea- 
ture was  in  it.     It  had— 

"  "Wheel  within  wheel  revolving  :" 

"and  as  for  the  wheels,  they  went,  every  one, 
straight  forward." 

Such  are  some  of  our  encom'agements  to  econ- 
omize the  Press,  on  a  new  and  noble  scale.  I 
suggest  another,  by  appealing  to  all  who  hear 
me.  What  do  you  not  owe  to  impressions  re- 
ceived from  printed  books  ?  Where  and  what 
would  you  have  been,  but  for  pious  reading? 
What  would  tempt  you  to  part  with  your  little 
hoard  of  precious  volumes  ?  To  say  nothing  of 
the  origin  of  religious  feeling,  in  thousands  of 
cases,  is  it  not  true  that  books  have  been  the 
recruiting-sergeants  of  our  Church  and  Ministry  ? 
Is  it  not  a  fact  that  among  the  fathers  and 
brethren  here  present,  in  this  great  council  of 
our  Church,  there  are  not  a  few  who  are  in- 
debted to  the  silent  testimony  of  books  for  their 
first  knowledge  of  her  ways  of  pleasantness  and 
paths  of  peace  ?" 

d  See  Xote  D. 


14        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

The  important  epochs  in  our  progress  as  a 
Church,  have  been  those  of  increased  activity  in 
publishing  ;  of  bringing  forth  our  treasures,  new 
and  old.  For  a  long  time  almost  our  only  allies 
were  the  booksellers.  Schools  and  colleges  were 
in  the  possession  of  others  :  but  men  could  not 
reprint  nor  sell  the  standard  works  of  English 
literature  without  being  our  helpers  ;  for  that  lit- 
erature is  born  of  the  Church,  its  own  begotten 
child.  On  this  significant  and  inspiring  consid- 
eration,  permit   me  for   a  moment   to  enlarge. 

It  is  said  of  Solomon  :  "  God  gave  him  wisdom 
and  understanding,  exceeding  much,  and  large- 
ness of  heart,  even  as  the  sand  that  is  by  the 
seashore."  No  wonder  then  that  the  text  goes 
on  to  tell  how  religion  received  from  him  a  hand- 
maid in  Polite  Learning,  and  that  he  gave  Science 
to  be  a  servant  honourable  in  all  her  house. 
At  the  same  time  that  the  mind  of  Greece,  and 
of  her  colonies,  was  turning  as  wax  to  the  seal  to- 
ward the  genius  of  Homer,  and  accepting  as  a  sort 
of  Bible  those  bewitching  rhapsodies  which  recog- 
nized "  lords  many  and  gods  many,"  and  which 
enthroned  them  as  tutelary  principalities  over 
woods  and  streams,  and  fountains  and  great 
deeps,  and  lofty  mountains — this  wise  Hebrew, 
barred  out,  as  it  were,  the  contagion  of  idolatry 
by    creating   for   his    countrymen,   a   literature 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.         15 

which  recognized  Jehovah,  and  crowned  Him 
only,  as  Sovereign  of  His  own  universe.  In  the 
Song  of  the  Three  Children,  and  in  other  por- 
tions of  the  Apocrypha,  I  suspect  we  have  the 
remnants  and  translations  of  what  originally 
proceeded  from  him.  He  was  the  greatest  au- 
thor of  his  times.  "  His  fame  was  in  all  nations 
round  about ;  and  he  spake  three  thousand  prov- 
erbs ;  and  his  songs  were  a  thousand  and  five ; 
and  he  spake  of  trees,  from  the  cedar  that  is  in 
Lebanon,  even  unto  the  hyssop  that  springeth 
out  of  the  wall ;  he  spake  also  of  beasts,  and  of 
fowl,  and  of  creeping  things,  and  of  fishes." 

Ours  is  a  day  of  godless  science,  and  our  chil- 
dren are  constantly  exposed  to  the  influences  of 
a  popular  authorship,  which  certainly  is  not 
devout.  The  gengral  half-learning  of  our  coun- 
trymen is  singularly  inclined  to  that  spirit  which 
would  banish  God  from  his  own  creation,  and 
which  would  reverse  the  law — "  let  God  be  true 
and  every  man  a  liar."  Hence  arises  the  sug- 
gestion that  we  owe  it  to  ourselves  to  create  a 
national  literature,  in  the  spirit  of  Solomon's 
enterpriser.  But,  I  forbear  to  dwell  on  this  idea, 
because  it  is  not  a  practical  one.  We  cannot 
Vote  such  a  literature  into  existence.  God  gives 
genius  to  whom  he  will,  and  it  must  be  his  glo- 
rious endowment  if  ever  the  Church   becomes 


16        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

the  mistress  of  the  national  intellect,  and  so 
insures  a  healthful  literature  to  our  country. 
At  present,  a  sickly  sentimentality,  a  meagre 
rationalism,  a  mean  provincialism^  threaten  to 
debase  what  true  religion  alone  can  ennoble. 
American  books  are  too  generally  made  for  the 
million,  and  pander  to  the  most  degrading  pre- 
judices. They  flatter  Popery  and  fawn  on  Infi- 
delity at  the  same  moment.  Beware  of  such 
books — "  Encyclopaedias,"  "  Popular  Libraries," 
"  Family  Periodicals."  Banish  them  from  your 
homes.  Encourage  such  authors  as  have  aimed 
to  give  a  healthful  tone  to  popular  thought. 
Estimate  aright  what  we  owe  to  those  eminent 
popular  authors  of  our  own  Communion,  who, 
while  they  do  honour  to  their  country,manifestthat 
elevated  enthusiasm  for  the  Church,  which  the  use 
of  the  English  language  ought  to  inspire.^  Let  such 
examples  give  us  hope  for  the  future  ;  but  mean- 
time, let  us  reflect  that  the  stores  of  English  litera- 
ture are  the  patrimony  of  the  Church,  and  that  the 
wholesome  supplies,  which  at  this  moment  are 
teeming  from  the  press  of  our  mother  Church 
may  be  lawfully  reproduced  and  appropriated. 
What  a  resource  is  here  !  It  is  our  own  fault  if 
the  youth  of  the  Nation,  and  our  children  in 
particular,  are  reared  at  the  feet  of  a  godless 
Science,  or  compelled  to  learn  history  and  every- 

«  See  Note  E. 


THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    PRESS.  17 

thing  else  that  is  useful  to  the  mind,  under  the 
ferule  of  a  rigid  Puritanism,  or  of  a  Kationalism 
that  is  its  next  of  kin,  and  which,  like  it,  dis- 
torts and  disqualifies  and  degrades  whatever  it 
takes  in  hand/ 

Let  us  not  forget  that  the  task  of  Solomon 
has  heen  taken  into  commission  hy  the  great 
worthies  of  our  own  Church,  in  past  times.  Our 
children  may  be  readily  initiated  in  the  study 
of  Nature,  in  the  reverent  spirit  of  Bacon,  of 
Boyle,  and  of  Newton.  There  have  been  many 
like  John  Evelyn  to  "  speak  of  trees."  White 
of  Selborne  discourses  charmingly  of  "  beasts 
and  fowl  and  creeping  things  ;"  and  who  knows 
not  how  the  pious  Walton,  whose  every  line  is 
baited  with  a  moral,  has  "spoken  of  fishes?" 
Then  for  ''  songs,"  how  rich  and  various  is  the 
pure  poetry  of  our  language  from  that  of  Spenser 
and  Herbert,  to  that  of  Cowper  and  Southey 
and  Wordsworth  ;  glittering  names  in  the  firma- 
ment of  genius,  and  stars,  I  doubt  not,  in  the 
Paradise  of  God  !  Happy,  indeed,  is  the  house- 
hold where  the  piety  of  youth  is  matured  by  a 
genial  fellowship  with  minds  like  these  ;  minds 
of  the  first  order,  themselves  the  nurslings  of 
the  Church's  breast.^  Shall  we  fail,  then,  to  make 
it  felt  by  our  countrymen,  that  such  works  as 
theirs  are  the  fruitao^e  of  those  tous^h  old  roots — 

f  See  Note  F.  s  See  Note  G. 


18  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    PRESS. 

the  Catechism  and  the  Liturgy  ?  Is  it  not 
policy,  wisdom,  duty,  to  teach  our  countrymen 
that  this  old  wine  is  better  than  the  new  ? 
And  in  view  of  the  fact  that  everywhere  a  pesti- 
lent press  is  multiplying  among  us  a  yellow  and 
cadaverous  literature  which  is  fit  only  for  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah ;  or  reproducing  that  which 
comes  reeking  with  fumes  of  stale  debauch  from 
France  and  Germany;  is  it  not  time  for  us  to 
direct  attention,  in  every  way,  to  the  sweet  and 
wholesome  sources  of  mental  aliment,  which  I 
have  indicated  as  our  own  ?  Oh,  the  delicious 
fragrance  of  our  old-fashioned  Christian  literature; 
the  literature  of  which  no  gentleman  can  be 
ignorant,  without  disgrace  ;^  and  which,  in  its 
secondary  forms  is  as  useful  to  the  common 
mind,  as  to  that  which  is  refined !  An  ennobling 
history  which  nobody  can  read  without  con- 
scious elevation  of  thought  and  feeling,  is  part 
of  it.'  Its  poetry  and  its  romance  are  pure.-'  Our 
children  may  safely  enjoy  its  fragrance,  which 
is  as  the  scent  of  fields  in  June.  No  serpent  is 
coiled  under  its  flowers  ;  its  symbol  is  Naphtali's 
"  hind  let  loose  ;"  a  glad  creature  of  God,  as  it 
bounds  through  glade  and  forest ;  whose  every 
motion  inspireth,  and  in  that  sense  "  giveth 
goodly  words." 

My  argument  suggests  the  inference  that  in 

h  See  Note  H,  '  See  Note  I.  J  See  Note  J. 


THE    CHUECH    AND    THE    PRESS.  19 

the  formation  of  Parochial  and  Domestic  Lihra- 
ries,  I  would  hy  no  means  limit  the  selection  to 
our  theological  literature,  incomparable  and  pre- 
cious as  it  is.^  But,  I  pass  to  a  brief  review  of 
the  vast  benefits  we  have  already  derived,  from  a 
policy  inaugurated  more  than  a  century  ago, 
on  the  banks  of  the  fair  river,  which,  at  this 
moment,  seems  to  mingle  the  murmur  of  its 
waters,  with  that  of  our  counsels  and  brotherly 
debates.  Here,  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and  under 
the  hoary  walls  of  Jamestown,  were  read  those 
inspiring  allegories  which  Spenser^  dedicated  to 
Elizabeth  as  "Empresse  of  Virginia."  Our  colonial 
clergy  brought  out  books  with  them,  and  estab- 
lished lending-libraries.  Let  Virginia  remem- 
ber the  name  of  Blair.  Let  the  name  of  Com- 
missary Bray  be  uttered  with  a  fervour  of  grati- 
tude, for  perhaps  the  largest  share  of  that  wis- 
dom and  benevolence  which  founded  the  "  Soci- 
ety for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge  ;" 
for  the  zeal  which  brought  him  to  one  of  these 
Southern  provinces,  laden  with  gifts  and  bounties; 
and  for  the  generous  foresight,  which  endowed 
us  with  books  of  sound  divinity  and  science. 
Who  can  tell  how  much  this  ungrateful  nation, 
ever  forgetful  of  moral  benefits  and  benefactors, 
owes,  at  least  indirectly,  to  him  ?  Reflect  that  from 
the  means  which  he  and  his  associates  supplied 

^  See  Note  K.  '  See  Note  L. 


20        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

was  derived  the  education  of  Washington  and 
his  illustrious  contemporaries."" 

To  Bishop  Berkeley's  policy  in  sending  a  noble 
library  to  Yale  College,  may  be  traced  much  of 
the  intelligent  piety  of  New  England."  But 
books  had  been  missionaries  before  him,  and  by 
their  silent  preaching  had  already  turned  the 
President  and  leading  scholars  of  that  Puritan 
university  into  Churchmen.  So,  books  may  be 
said  to  have  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Church 
in  New  England,  the  vaunted  inheritance  of  her 
hereditary  foes.  In  all  ages  books  have  won 
our  greatest  trophies.  Our  cause  languishes 
only  when  it  is  in  the  keeping  of  dullness  and 
indifference.  It  invokes  light  :  it  challenges 
investigation.  Our  great  reformers  worked  the 
press,  as  if  it  had  been  the  artillery  of  England. 
Then  came  Jewel,  and  Hooker,  and  Field,  with 
their  broadsides  against  Papists  and  Puritans ; 
and  when  John  Milton  brought  his  erratic  ge- 
nius to  the  aid  of  the  latter,  it  was  with  the 
damaging  confession  that  the  Bishops'  books 
were  better  and  more  learned  than  those  of  their 
adversaries,  who  had  not  been  equal  to  the  con- 
test.'' This  patronizing  office  of  championship 
involved  even  Milton  in  defeat.  In  his  theology 
the  poet  is  "  shorn  of  his  beams."  His  argu- 
ment against  prelacy  is  a  fit  companion  for  that 
which  he  produced  in  favour  of  polygamy. 

'^  See  Note  M.  »  See  Note  N.  «>  See  Note  0. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.        21 

For  a  time,  and  till  the  dreary  tyranny  of 
Cromwell  was  ovei-past,  it  was  almost  to 
books  alone  that  we  owed,  under  God,  the 
iinquenched  coal  of  the  Church,  w^hich  glowed 
on  English  hearth-stones.  The  "Whole  Duty 
of  Man"  preached  its  homely  sermons,  by  the 
lips  of  pious  mothers ;  and  in  many  a  cottage  and 
hall,  it  was  for  long  years  the  only  pastor  ever 
seen  or  heard.  Then,  too,  were  ^\Tought  those 
apples  of  gold  in  pictures  of  silver — the  "  Life  of 
Christ,"  and  the  "•  Golden  Grove"  of  our  Angli- 
can Chrysostom:  and  then  how  mightily  came 
forth  the  sun  of  the  Church's  strength,  and  with 
what  redoubled  radiance,  in  the  works  of  those 
brilliant  scholars  and  divines  that  illustrated  the 
otherwise  gloomy  days,  extending  from  the  pri- 
macy of  Juxon  to  that  of  Sancroft !  Xor  should 
we  forget  that  when  a  frigid  latitudinarianism 
had  set  in,  like  a  cold  noon  after  a  fine  spring  morn- 
ing, it  was  to  books  and  masterly  tracts,  to  the 
works  of  such  as  Butler,  and  Waterland,  and 
Jones  of  Nayland,  and  Bishop  Home,  that  we 
owe,  under  Providence,  the  imchanging  fidelity 
of  Anglican  theology,  to  the  cardinal  truths  of 
revelation ;  to  the  doctrines  of  the  divinity  and 
atonement  of  Christ,  and  of  our  justification  by 
faith  in  His  precious  blood. ^  I  appeal  to  you, 
venerable  fathers  and  dear  brethren  in  the  minis- 

p  See  Note  P. 


22  THE    CHURCH    AND    THE    PRESS. 

try,  is  it  not  l^y  contact  with  such  minds  that 
many  of  you  first  learned  to  know  the  love  of 
Christ,  and  to  choose  the  hlessed  work  of  preach- 
ing His  gospel  ?  Have  they  not  been  to  thou- 
sands as  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment, 
through  which  virtue  went  out  of  Him  to  heal 
them?  Why,  then,  do  we  forbear  to  bring  all 
intelligent  minds  in  our  country  into  such  contact? 
Why  do  we  leave  the  hints  which  experience 
has  given  us  unimproved  ?  Why  do  we  not  de- 
velope  our  vast  resources  by  the  Press,  and  force 
them  upon  the  attention  of  the  times  ?  In  spite 
of  themselves,  men  who  aim  at  a  high  cultiva- 
tion must  know  somethijig  of  our  great  divines  ; 
and  to  this  fact  we  owe,  in  no  small  degree,  the 
steady  influx  of  educated  mind  into  the  ranks 
of  our  ministry.*^  Why,  then,  I  say,  is  not  every 
college  and  fireside  in  our  land,  forced  by  our 
energy  and  forethought  to  feel,  and  pay  tribute 
to  such  lawful  claims  ?  We  have  no  right  to 
withhold  knowledge.  Give  inquiring  men,  at 
least,  the  chance  to  understand  and  reject  our 
theology.  But  thousands  would  never  reject  it, 
if  only  they  might  know  of  it.  Why  should 
they  live  and  die  in  ignorance  of  what  to  us  is 
dearer  than  life  itself?  Oh,  that  I  could  ade- 
quately express  my  convictions  of  our  duty  in 
this  matter  !     Was  ever  a  church  so  rich  in  re- 

q  See  Note  Q, 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.         23 

sources  and  so  slow  to  use  them :  so  full  of  light 
and  so  cruelly  unwilling  to  let  her  light  shine  ? 
Observe,  how  the  policy  of  our  opponents  betrays 
the  point  in  which  they  feel  themselves  weak, 
and  in  which  they  dread  our  power.  How  in- 
stinctively the  colleges  of  New  England  have 
shrunk  from  encouraging  the  study  of  English  lit- 
erature, sacred  and  secular !  How  unconsciously 
they  have  conceded  that  to  make  young  men 
drink  deep  of  these  undefiled  wells,  would  be  to 
disgust  them  with  extemporaneous  devotions, 
and  create  a  longing  for  the  sublime  old  Liturgy ! 
How  unfortunate  has  been  their  alternative,  in 
the  importation  of  German  rationalism  into  all 
their  schools!  And  how  rapidly  the  decline  of 
public  morals,  of  the  dignity  of  personal  bearing, 
and  of  thought  and  speech  accordingly,'  has 
warned  us  to  beware  ;  and  invoked  us  to  bring 
forth  our  candle  from  under  its  bushel ! 

Not  less  instinctively  does  the  Romanist  dread 
the  influence  of  the  literature  which  I  am  com- 
mending. Next  to  the  Scriptures,  he  recognizes 
it  as  the  most  formidable  fortress  in  which  the 
Anglo-Saxon  intellect  entrenches  itself  against 
him.  Well  he  may:  for  it  arose  with  WicJif 
and  Chaucer,  and  stands  an  enduring  witness 
that  ''  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation."  Happi- 
ly this  identity  of  English  literature  with  pure 

'  See  Note  R.        «  See  Note  S. 


24        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

religion  can  never  be  destroyed.  To  sednce  the 
youth  of  England,  the  Romanists  lately  founded 
an  university  in  the  sister  isle.  That  baleful  ge- 
nius who  led  the  apostasy  from  Oxford  to  Rome 
tried  to  show  them  that  if  they  would  make  their 
pupils  a  match  for  the  scholars  of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge,  they  must  imbue  them,  as  scholars, 
with  the  same  literature  ;  and  he  urged  them  to 
make  the  experiment,  with  all  the  powers  of  his 
persuasive  eloquence.*  But  no—his  superiors 
decided  that  it  was  too  bold  an  experiment.  Eng- 
lish literature,  they  argued,  must  breed  Anglican 
churchmen.  They  barred  their  doors  against  it. 
Be  it  so ;  but  let  us  learn  from  the  enemy  a  great 
secret  of  successful  war !  Yes,  my  brother 
Churchman,  use  what  they  concede  to  you  ;  rec- 
ognize your  superiority  ;  know  your  strength  ; 
know  that  to  train  your  children  faithfully  in 
the  language  which  their  mothers  speak,  is  to 
imbue  them  with  healthful  religion  ;  is  to  make 
them  hate  a  lie  ;  is  to  give  them  an  habitual  hos- 
tility to  superstition.  Yes — it  is  to  endow  them 
with  a  mental  manhood,  to  which  they  must  do 
degrading  violence  before  they  can  alienate 
themselves  from  her  whose  maternal  bosom  has 
seldom  Igst  a  child  of  its  nurture,  that  was  not 
hopelessly  ignoble  in  taste,  or  fanatical  in  tem- 
perament. 

t  See  Note  T. 


THE    CHURCH   AJ^D    THE    PRESS.  25 

Considerations  such  as  these  convince  me, 
that  the  Society  whose  claims  I  m-ge  may  be 
made  by 'ample  support  an  instrument  of  good, 
almost  in  any  degree  you  may  choose.  It  may 
be  made  a  voice  in  the  wilderness  to  prepare  the 
way  of  the  Lord.  It  will  bring  in  recruits  for 
the  ministry,  from  all  parts  of  the  land.  It  will 
make  its  way  where  the  foot  of  a  Churchman 
never  falls  ;  it  will  win  the  sweet  confidence  of 
good  men,  who  have  found  the  bitterest  disap- 
pointment in  the  ministry  of  other  commun- 
ions ;  it  will  penetrate  into  the  nurseries  of 
children.  And  when  the  missionary's  visit  to  the 
lonely  outpost  has  come  to  an  end,  it  will  ena- 
ble him  to  leave  supplies  of  Sunday  reading,  till 
after  a  long  time  he  shall  come  again  to  seek  the 
sheep  that  else  would  have  been  lost.  Surely 
our  books  are  needed  everywhere  in  the  land ; 
from  Maine,  where  its  good  prelate  has  been 
obliged  so  lately  to  tell  them  that  there  is  a 
devil,  to  Oregon,  where  its  bold  apostle  has  often- 
times to  remind  them  that  there  is  a   God. 

I  know  that  there  is  a  great  circulation  in  this 
land,  of  books  that  are  vaguely  Christian,  and 
indefinitely  religious:  but,  remember.  Church- 
men, that,  without  forgetting  to  be  grateful  for 
what  is  done  by  others,  your  books  are  the  only 
ones  that  venture  to  set  forth  the  entire  truth  as 

2 


26  THE    CHUECH   AND    THE    PRESS. 

it  is  in  Jesus :  the  New  Testament  in  its  integ- 
rity:  the  whole  counsel  of  God.     All  this,  our 
Mixed  Societies  do  not  profess  to  do  :  their  organ- 
ization forbids  it :  they  cannot,  on  their  plan  of 
action,  even  undertake  to  expound  the  six  "  prin- 
ciples of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,"  as  enumerated 
by  St.  Paul.''     I  exhort  you  then,  not  interfering 
with  them,  to  do  your  own  proper  work  ;  to  econo- 
mize your  own  resources  ;  to  endow  and  enrich 
and   energize   your    own   Society.     Let    it    no 
1  onge    drag    in    the    rear ;    let    it     go     hand 
in  hand  with  your  great  missionary  agencies  : 
enlarge    its    gratuitous     issues.       Take     of    it 
for  your  own  families  ;  but  give  others  also  to 
drink.      Thousands  are  thirsting  for  the  truth 
that  lies  in  our  well.      To  drop  the  figure,  there 
is  a  turning  to   our  Church,  among  the  most 
earnest  minds  in  the  land,  and  a  longing  to  learn 
of  us,  how  to  escape  from  the  miseries  and  dis- 
tractions  of   a  divided  Christianity.      Oh,  that 
we  may  prove  ourselves  worthy  of  being  thus 
"  sought  out — a  city  not  forsaken."     Let  us  arise 
to  the  measure  of  these  responsibilities.     Let  our 
presses  burst  out  with  new  wine,  of  the  old  flavour ; 
let  our  books  go  everywhere  preaching  the  word. 
Establish  depositories  in  every  city ;  open  libra- 
ries in  every  parish;  send  out  hawkers;  wake  up 
fathers   of  families   to   the   duty   of   providing 

«  See  Note  U. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS.        27 

bread  for  their  children's  minds  ;  and  let  mothers 
learn  not  only  that  book-shelves  are  the  fairest 
ornaments  of  a  dwelling,  but  that  '^  through 
wisdom  is  a  house  builded,  and  by  knowledge 
shall  the  chambers  be  filled  with  all  precious  and 
pleasant  riches." 

Finally,  to  fasten  in  a  sure  place  the  rude  intel- 
ligence of  your  backwoodsmen,  supply  the  fron- 
tier missionary  with  these  "  goads  and  nails." 
Do  this,  and  I  will  venture  to  sketch  in  the  out- 
line the  results,  which  facts  already  established 
enable  us  to  anticipate  as  probable.''  The  lad 
that,  in  some  western  cabin,  pores  over  stories 
that  illustrate  the  Catechism,  is  the  predestined 
apostle  of  Utah  —  the  Antipas  (the  faithful 
martyr,  possibly)  who  is  to  reclaim  to  decency 
and  the  fear  of  God  its  unhappy  progeny  of  lust 
and  crime.  Or  perhaps,  the  intelligent  boy, 
who,  of  a  cold  winter  night,  in  Minnesota,  shall 
explore,  by  the  blazing  fire  on  the  hearth,  the 
story  of  Latimer  and  Ridley,  may  be  leaning  on 
the  little  hand  that  is  yet  to  light  new  candles 
of  Reformation,  and  wrest  back  the  fairest  do- 
mains of  the  Mississippi,  from  the  grasp  of  Ro- 
mish superstition  and  imposture.  Or  it  may 
be,  when  we  too  shall  have  passed  away  and 
left  our  places  to  others,  that  the-  element  of  your 
Society  shall   be  found    to   have   nurtured   the 

^  See  j^ote  V. 


28        THE  CHURCH  AND  THE  PRESS. 

man — that  special  gift  of  God,  for  whose  appear 
ance  millions  of  prayers  are  daily  sent  up  to 
His  throne  by  Christians  of  different  names  — 
the  man  who,  in  these  last  days,  must  be  raised 
up,  to  turn  the  hearts  of  fathers  to  their  chil- 
dren, and  of  children  to  their  fathers :  to  gather 
all  believers  in  America  mto  the  one  fold,  under 
one  Shepherd;  and  to  unite  the  now  divided 
Christians  of  our  beloved  country  into  one  Sac- 
ramental host,  able  to  confront  all  "  the  armies 
of  the  aliens,"  and  to  fill  this  continent  with 
the  voice  of  one  triumphant  ascription  :  "  Wor- 
thy is  the  Lamb." 


NOTES. 


At  the  request  of  several  of  the  officers  and  friends  of  the  Church 
Book  Society,  the  author  appends  a  series  of  notes,  designed  to  give 
a  more  detailed  and  practical  shape  to  the  brief  suggestions  of 
the  sermon.  He  does  this,  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance 
of  the  matters  on  which  he  touches,  but  with  no  idea  that  he  ad- 
vances anything  which  many  have  not  thought  of  before.  He  hopes 
to  be  serviceable,  however,  to  men  of  business,  fathers  of  families, 
and  others  who  will  give  the  Sermon  the  honour  of  a  reading,  but 
who  may  have  no  time  to  elaborate  for  themselves  opinions  and 
practical  operations  in  harmony  with  its  counsels. 

Hundreds,  if  not  thousands  of  Churchmen,  visit  New- York  every 
year,  who  make  the  purchase  of  books  for  their  families  part  of 
their  errand,  but  in  the  excitement  of  their  business  and  pleasure, 
they  are  not  able  to  give  the  selection  of  proper  books  a  moment's 
thought.  Naming  a  few  popular  authors,  they  often  leave  the  rest 
to  an  incompetent  bookseller,  with  orders  to  put  up  a  parcel,  at  a 
specified  price  :  as  the  result,  they  receive,  if  not  a  mass  of  refuse 
merchandise,  at  least  an  indiscriminate  pile  of  showy  but  often  ill- 
assorted  books,  many  of  them  entirely  unfit  for  a  Christian's  house- 
hold shelves.  The  books  they  ought  to  possess  they  never  see  ; 
their  children  never  hear  of  them ;  and  yet  even  a  little  money,  ju- 
diciously laid  out  m  books,  goes  a  great  way,  and  a  few  well-selected 
volumes  give  an  air  of  dignity  and  taste  to  the  humblest  home,  while 
even  the  familiar  sight  of  their  titles  does  much  to  enlarge  and  libe- 
ralize the  minds  of  the  young.  * 

United  action  among  Churchmen,  in  behalf  of  their  own  literary 
wants,  would  soon  compel  authors  and  publishers  to  desist  from  doing 
continual  outrage  to  their  principles.     We  need  a  recognized  lit- 


30  KOTES. 

erary  policy.  An  outline  of  the  kind  of  reading  we  require  is  fur- 
nished in  these  notes,  and  it  seems  desirable  that,  when  this  outline 
is  properly  filled  up,  the  Society  should  issue  a  list  of  such  books 
as  it  is  williag  to  procure  for  parties  buying  its  own  publications, 
with  a  view  to  promote  healthful  tastes,  and  such  habits  of  thought 
as  coincide  with  the  principles  of  Churchmen.  The  Church  finds 
no  greater  barrier  to  her  progress  than  the  vulgar  tastes,  preju- 
dices, and  ways  of  viewing  things  in  general,  which  are  produced 
by  the  provincial  and  low-lived  literature  that  is  current  in  the 

land. 

A. 

The  Actual  History  of  the  Press.  Dean  Milman,  in  his  "  Latin 
Christianity,"  says  of  the  era  of  printing :  "  Books  gradually  be- 
came, as  far  as  the  instruction  of  the  human  race,  a  co-ordinate 
priesthood." 

B. 

The  Princip  le  of  Printing  always  known.  The  Chinese,  of  course, 
claim  this  invention,  and  date  it  before  the  Christian  era.  Cicero 
often  uses  language  and  imagery  which  one  would  imagine  suffi- 
cient to  suggest  the  art  of  printing  to  any  one.  Thus  :  "  Quid  si  in 
ejusdemmodi  cera  centum  sigilla  hoc  annulo  impressero  ?"  IV. 
Acad.,  85.  Again  :  "  An  imprimi,  quasi  coram,  animum  putamus, 
et  memoriam  esse  signatarum  rerum  in  mente  vestigia  ?  Quce  pos- 
sunt  verborum,  quae  rerum  ipsarum,  esse  vestigia  ?  Quae  porro  tarn 
immensa  magnitudo,  quae  ilia  tam  multa  possit  effingere  ?"     Tusc. 

I.,  25. 

C. 

Guttemberg's  Vision.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  tell  this  story 
in  my  own  language,  but  those  who  would  see  it  more  dramatically 
drawn  out,  are  referred  to  the  spirited  narrative  of  M.  de  Lamar- 
tine,  Vie  des  Grands  Honimes,  vol.  ii.,  p.  122. 

D. 

Influence  of  Books.  Here,  if  the  preacher  speaks  feelingly,  he 
speaks  from  precious  experience.  To  Mrs.  Sherwood's  Stories  on 
the  Church  Catechism  (afterwards  edited  by  Bishop  Kemp),  he 
owes  the  blessed  privilege  of  having  been  instructed  in  the  Cate- 
chism of  the  Church,  while  yet  a  child  in  the  nursery,  and  in  the 


NOTES.  31 

tones  of  a  mother's  voice.  Thougli  familiar  with  the  Services  of 
the  Church,  from  tender  years,  circumstances  obliged  him  to  depend 
upon  books,  in  a  large  measure,  for  education  in  her  principles. 
The  History  of  England,  and  the  Lives  of  her  martyrs  and  great 
divines,  and  of  Henry  Martyn,  and  Reginald  Heber,  not  forgetting 
the  Memoirs  and  Correspondence  of  William  Cowper,  Hannah 
More,  and  Leigh  Richmond,  served  to  enamour  him  with  their  several 
types  of  Anglican  character  and  piety,  long  before  he  could  under- 
stand the  importance  of  doctrinal  orthodoxy.  To  The  Records  of  a 
Good  Marl's  Life,  The  Rector?/  of  Valehead,  Scenes  in  our  Parish, 
and  several  other  works  of  similar  spirit,  he  owed,  in  a  great  de- 
gree, a  prevailing  reverence  and  love  for  our  holy  religion,  during 
a  perilous  period  of  boyhood.  In  early  college-life  he  was  induced, 
by  the  advice  of  a  Presbyterian  scholar,  to  study  the  History  of 
Canonical  Scripture,  in  the  learned  work  of  (the  Dissenter)  Jere- 
miah Jones — a  work  which  has  been  thought  worthy  of  publica- 
tion by  the  Oxford  University  Press.  To  this  work  he  owes 
his  first  insight  of  the  Primitive  Church,  and  of  the  clear  truth  that 
the  Orders  of  the  Church  are  derived  from  the  same  sources  which 
supply  us  with  the  sacred  Scriptures.  This  truth,  as  he  thus  grasp- 
ed it,  he  has  endeavoured  to  illustrate  in  the  little  brochure  entitled 
"  Fixed  Principles." 

E. 
Popular  Authors  among  American  Churchmen.  It  need  hardly 
be  said  that  the  works  of  Washington  Irving,  J.  Fenimore  Cooper, 
and  others,  are  here  referred  to.  The  writings  of  Mr.  Ir\'ing  are 
pre-eminently  entitled  to  such  commendation.  In  a  striking  man- 
ner they  show  what  English  genius  naturally  becomes,  under  the 
influence  of  the  Church  in  a  new  country,  and  under  new  institu- 
tions ;  hence  they  are  legitimate  and  healthful  grafts  upon  the  old 
English  stock.  They  keep  up  the  literary  succession  between  Amer- 
ica and  the  old  English  writers,  which,  but  for  Mr.  Irving,  would 
hardly  be  apparent.  Hence,  a  taste  for  Irving's  Avorks  leads  a  young 
mind  up  to  the  sources  of  the  language,  and  fosters  an  intellectual 
habit,  which  nothing  less  than  the  Church  and  her  Liturgy  can 
satisfy.  He  is  the  father  of  Polite  Letters  in  America.  Mr.  Cooper, 
though  in  a  less  degree,  perhaps  (yet  at  times  even  more  conspicu- 
ously), has  woven  into  his  works  a  large  amount  of  Anglican  thought 


32  isroTES. 

and  expression.  As  time  goes  on,  the  merits  of  "  The  Pioneers," 
and  its  kindred  tales,  will  be  more  and  more  appreciated.  The 
"  Rural  Hours"  of  Miss  Cooper  is  a  charming  work ;  and  "  The 
American  Lady,"  by  Mrs.  Grant,  of  Laggan,  should  be  read  with 
Mr.  Coopers  stories,  by  all  who  would  gain  a  true  idea  of  some  of 
the  earlier  phases  of  life  in  this  western  world. 

P.  S. — This  note  was  written  almost  at  the  very  hour  when  the 
amiable  and  accomplished  Mr.  Irving  was  expiring  at  Irvington — 
an  event  for  which  nobody  was  prepared.  In  the  general  attention 
which  will  now  be  directed  to  his  writings.  Churchmen  have  an  op- 
portunity to  enforce  the  views  here  presented,  and  which  the  writei 
has  more  fully  illustrated  in  the  "Church  Review,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  344. 
It  may  be  worth  stating  that  Mr.  Irving  was  much  gratified  with 
the  view  of  his  influence  on  Church  development  there  presented. 

F. 

Puritanized  Histories.  Of  this  ignoble  sort  is  even  tne  work 
(which  aspires  to  be  a  national  one)  of  Mr.  Bancroft.  Happily,  it 
cannot  be  read  by  youth  with  any  such  enthusiasm  as  will  always 
be  inspired  by  Irving's  Washington.  A  History  of  America,  di- 
vested of  sectional  prejudices,  and  illustrating  the  rise  of  our  civili- 
zation, literature,  and  arts,  remains  to  be  written.  The  colonial 
period  has  never  been  carefully  treated ;  and  the  squalid  politics  of 
the  nation,  subsequent  to  the  formation  of  our  constitution,  may  well 
he  thrown  into  the  shade  by  some  historian  who  will  do  justice  to 
the  amazing  development  of  society  under  the  Presidents. 

Of  the  Plymouth  colony  a  fair  and  interesting  memoir  has  been 
written  by  one  of  our  own  clergy,  the  Rev.  A.  Steele,  of  Washing- 
ton, entitled  "  The  Chief  of  the  Pilgrims."  To  Professor  Eliot,  of 
Trinity  College,  we  are  also  indebted  for  a  Manual  of  American 
History  which  deserves  notice. 

G. 

Suggestion.  The  popular  work.  Chambers^  Encyclopcedia  of 
English  Literature^  is  worthy  of  a  place  in  a  family  library.  On  the 
whole,  it  is  an  excellent  introduction  to  the  noble  study  here  recom- 
mended, and  can  hardly  fail  of  inspiring  the  youthful  mind,  that  is 
otherwise  well  trained,  with  a  love  of  letters.  The  author  takes 
pleasure  in  recording  a  general  impression  in  favour  of  the  similar 
-^ork  of  the  Messrs.  Duvckinck,  on  American  literature. 


NOTES.  33 

H. 

• 

Safe  Guides.  I  beg  to  direct  attention  to  the  wi-itings  of  the  late 
Professor  Reed,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  as  of  great  value 
in  education,  and  worthy  of  the  sound  Churchman  and  devout  Chris- 
tian who  has  left  them  to  us.  I  refer  especially  to  his  Lectures  on 
English  Literature,  and  his  Lectures  on  English  History  ;  the  latter 
founded  on  Shakspeare.  I  would  also  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Hud- 
son's Lectures  on  Shakspeare,  as  full  of  valuable  comment.  Nor  can 
I  forbear  to  mention  the  names  of  William  Croswell,  Bishop  Doane, 
James  Hillhouse,  Edward  Griffin,  and  James  Wallis  Eastburn, 
among  those  of  our  benefactors,  in  forming  the  literary  tastes  of 
Chm'chmen.     Let  me  not  omit  Dr.  Jarvis,  and  Bishop  "Wainwright. 

Historic  Studies.  As  an  introduction  to  English  Church  History,  I 
cannot  too  warmly  commend  Mr.  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church  ; 
but  it  must  be  regarded  merely  as  an  introduction.  He  wrote  before 
much  attention  had  been  given  to  many  of  the  more  important 
points  of  our  history,  as  specialties,  and  hence  allowance  must  be 
made  for  inaccuracies  of  statement  and  of  expression,  of  which  the 
correction  will  be  found  in  such  works  as  Massingberd's  History 
of  the  English  Reformation,  Churton's  Early  English  Church,  and 
Le  Bas'  Lives  of  Wiclif,  Crannier,  and  Laudf  Besides  these.  Pal- 
grave's  Truths  and  Fictions  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  same  au- 
thor's Anglo-Saxons,  should  be  read. 

In  pursuing  this  all-important  study — all-important,  because  it  is 
by  such  studies  that  character  is  elevated,  and  emancipated  from 
what  is  provincial,  contracted,  and  false — The  Church  History  of 
Britain,  by  Fuller,  may  next  be  taken  up.  It  will  never  be  laid 
down  for  long,  by  anybody  who  loves  a  genuine  repast  of  wit,  a  flow 
of  good  tempered  but  epigrammatic  criticism,  a  fund  of  entertaining 
anecdote,  and  a  genial  vein  of  piety  withal,  though  not  unflavored 
with  a  tart  prickliness  at  times,  owing  to  the  author's  sympathy 
with  the  better  sort  of  Puritans.  After  this  one  may  take  up,  suc- 
cessively, Lord  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion,  and  Burnet's 
History  of  His  Own  Times,  though  it  would  be  better  to  begin  with 
his  History  of  the  Reformation.  In  all  such  writers  allowance 
must  be  made  for  their  prejudices  ;  in  Burnet,  for  something  like 
misrepresentation,  besides  frequent  inaccuracy.  The  Biography  of 
Charles  the  First,  by  Mr.  D'Israeli,  is  a  very  valuable  work  in  its 

2* 


34  IsTOTES. 

way,  but  the  times  of  that  sovereign  must  be  studied  from  original 
sources,  by  every  American  who  would  understand  the  period  to 
which  the  history  of  his  own  country  is  most  deeply  and  vitally  re- 
lated. It  is  a  study  in  which  every  jurist  and  divine,  more  espe- 
cially, should  be  thoroughly  well  read. 

There  are  side-dishes  to  this  great  feast  which  must  not  be  for- 
gotten. Taking  it  for  granted  that  a  youth  will  have  made  himself 
familiar  with  the  historical  plays  of  ShaksjJeare,  and  Chaucer's  Pro- 
logue to  the  Canterbury  Tales,  I  would  advise  him  to  resort  to  the 
Paston  Letters,  and  to  read  the  Colloquies  of  Erasmus  (translated 
by  L'Estrange),  in  order  to  get  hold  of  the  times  preceding  the 
Reformation,  in  their  manners  and  customs.  Then  read  WoUon^s 
Reliquice,  HowelFs  Familiar  Letters,  and  Walton's  Lives,  and  the 
Complete  Angler.  Sir  Thomas  Herbert's  Two  Last  Years  of  Charles 
the  First,  though  an  authentic  personal  memoir,  has  all  the  charm 
of  romance.  The  Biary  and  Letters  of  John  Evelyn,  and  (as  a  con- 
trast partly)  the  Diary  of  Pepys,  are  also  of  great  interest;  they 
supply  important  facts,  and  Evelyn  teaches  us  the  manners  of  a 
true,  old-fashioned.  Christian  gentleman,  all  the  more  forcibly, 
when  set  off  by  the  garrulous  coxcomb  whose  life  runs  so  nearly 
parallel.  Fuller's  "  Worthies,"  and  Burnet's  Lives  (edited  by  Jebb) 
should  not  be  forgotten ;  nor  can  I  forbear  to  throw  in  Sir  Thomas 
Brown's  Religio,Medici,  and  Selden's  Table-talk  ;  the  latter  because 
it  teaches  us  to  understand  and  do  justice  to  those  of  the  Puritans 
who  differed  ■  least  from  the  Church.  After  this  may  be  read,  as 
historical  works,  the  Spectator,  and  then  Boswell's  Johnson.  Hor- 
ace Walpole's  gossip  gives  a  melancholy,  but  to  some  extent,  a 
truthful  picture  of  the  times,  of  which  Dr.  Johnson  enables  us  to 
see  the  redeeming  features.  With  those  times  our>t)wn  colonial 
history  is  closely  connected.  Dr.  Hook's  Ecclesiastical  Biography 
ought  to  be  newly  edited  and  re-published,  with  additions,  in 
America :  and  this  work,  with  the  estimable  Dr.  Sprague's  Annals 
of  the  American  Pulpit,  (vol.  IV.,)  will  materially  assist  the  reader 
of  the  works  thus  mentioned. 

J. 

English  Romance.  So  constant  is  the  appearance  of  new  novels, 
and  so  confirmed  appears  to  be  the  appetite  f«r  them,  that  it  seems 
useless  to  remonstrate ;  but  it  may  be  feared  that  no  good  account 


KOTES.  *  35 


can  be  given  to  God  for  much  time  employed  in  reading  them.  Yet 
there  are  novels  in  our  language  which  ought  to  he  read,  as  an  ac= 
companiment  to  other  books.  Nearly  the  whole  of  them  may  be 
named  within  the  compass  of  this  note ;  and  wisely  distributed  aa 
helps  to  other  reading,  they  may  be  of  real  service. 

Such  a  story  as  P^ohinson  Crusoe  cannot  be  too  highly  estimated, 
as  tending  to  open  the  mind  and  enlarge  the  ideas  of  a  growing 
boy ;  and  when  the  study  of  history  is  fau'ly  inaugurated,  such  sto- 
ries as  Ivanhoe,  and  Quentin  Durward,  will  also  have  a  beneficial 
influence.  When  a  youth  is  disposed  to  read  Keniltvorth,  let  him 
reflect  that  it  portrays  the  lighter  features  of  the  age  succeeding 
the  Reformation ;  and  the  Fortunes  of  Nigel  may  be  safely  read  by 
one  who  sees  in  it  the  manners  of  that  epoch  to  which  we  owe  our 
common  English  Bible.  Woodstock  must  be  dignified  by  associ- 
ation with  the  trials  and  troubles  of  the  Church  of  England,  under 
the  Commonwealth.  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield  may  be  read  in  ma- 
turer  youth,  as  a  picture  of  the  times  which  succeeded  the  acces- 
sion of  the  House  of  Hanover  ]  and,  as  it  is  really  important  that 
society  in  England,  in  our  own  times,  should  be  comprehended,  it 
may  be  well,  with  books  of  travel,  to  read  such  a  work  as  Ten 
Thousand  a  Year,  by  Mr.  Warren.  As  for  the  fashionable  low-life 
novels,  of  the  sentimental  and  cynical  sort,  it  is  a  pity  that  they 
should  find  any  favour  with  Christians  ;  and  the  reading  of  popular 
novels  of  the  sensual  French  school,  should  be  regarded  as  a  posi- 
tive immorality. 

There  are  two  novels,  which  need  only  to  be  furnished  with 
proper  notes  and  comments,  to  be  of  great  value  to  the  young 
Christian  who  would  learn  something  of  the  state  of  society  before 
and  after  the  nominal  conversion  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Each  is 
disfigured  by  great  blemishes,  yet  they  have  great  merits.  I  refer 
to  Bulwer's  Last  Days  of  Pompeii,  and  Kingsley's  Hypatia.  The 
former  is  feeble  in  its  attempted  portraiture  of  the  early  Christian 
martyrs.  The  latter  does  little  justice  to  the  nobler  features  of  a 
critical •  period  in  the  history  of  the  Church;  yet  it  shows  forcibly 
the  evil  of  those  terrible  conflicts  of  popular  feeling  which  neces- 
sarily followed  the  breaking  up  of  old  systems  and  superstitions, 
while  the  masses  were  yet  undisciplined  by  the  faith  which  they 
had  only  in  form  embraced. 


36  NOTES. 

K. 

Theological  Literature.  To  this  study  we  possess  an  introduc- 
tion, in  an  admirable  popular  form,  in  the  two  volumes  entitled 
The  Literature  of  the  Church  of  England,  by  the  Rev.  R.  Catter- 
mole,  B.  D.  Though  published  in  England,  the  work  is  in  the  mar- 
ket, at  a  very  low  price,  and  it  ought  to  be  generally  circulated. 
Wilberforce's  Five  Empires,  and  also  The  Manual  of  Church 
History,  by  Palmer  (edited  by  Bishop  Whittingham),  should  be  in 
every  library;  as  also  Wordsworth's  Theophilus  Anglicanus, 
edited  by  H.  D.  Evans,  Esq.  The  work  of  Dr.  Evans  on  Anglican 
Ordinations,  is  not  only  a  refutation  of  the  pretences  and  imputa- 
tions of  Romish  writers,  but  it  also  contains  much  valuable  inform- 
ation, not  elsewhere  to  be  found,  on  many  subordinate  points.  To 
this,  the  same  author's  Essay  on  the  American  Episcopate  is  an  im- 
portant supplement. 

L. 

The  Poetry  of  Spenser.  At  the  well-head  of  "  English  undefiled," 
we  have  a  noble  Church-poet,  who  celebrates,  in  the  Red-Cross 
Knight,  the  achievements  of  Faith.  In  the  artful  but  foul  Duessa 
he  gives  a  just  portrait  of  Romanism,  and  in  the  pure  and  heavenly- 
minded  Una,  he  displays  the  primitive  charms  of  the  Anglican 
Church. 

The  Minor  Poems  of  Milton  are  almost  all  conceived  in  the  spirit 
of-  his  Church-education ;  and  nowhere  is  Puritanism  betrayed  in 
those  parts  of  Paradise  Lost  which  are  attractive,  and  meritorious 
as  poetry.  He  justly  eulogized  Jeremy  Taylor  as  the  Father  of 
Religious  Toleration,  and  stigmatized  the  Puritans  as  his  persecutors 
and  as  the  enemies  of  religious  liberty,  in  his  poem  on  the  New 
Forcers  of  Conscience,  etc.  In  general,  the  poetry  of  our  language 
may  be  regarded  as  wholly  ours. 

But  the  young  will  generally  form  their  taste,  in  poetry,  by  inti- 
macy with  contemporary  authors.  Happily  the  reigning  poets, 
Tennyson  and  Longfellow,  are  such  as  -they  may  safely  read.  To 
the  latter  we  owe  a  debt  for  the  elevation  he  has  given  to  the  tastes 
of  our  countrymen,  and  for  the  general  harmony  of  his  thought  and 
expression  with  what  is  Church-like.  In  so  sacred  a  task  as  I  am 
now  performing,  however,  candor  compels  me  to  remind  parents 
and  instructors  that  the  moralit}^  and  religion  of  even  Mr.  Long- 


NOTES.  37 

fellow- s  charming  poetry  are  not  free  from  somewhat  of  indefinite^ 
ness  and  indifferentism,  though  in  a  very  refined  and  subtle  form. 
What  is  picturesque,  rather  than  what  is  real  and  truthful,  is,  no 
doubt  unconsciously,  worked  into  many  of  his  poems,  on  a  principle 
of  eclecticism  which  is  dangerous  to  the  youthful  mind.  Such  a 
mosaic  is  not  without  a  pleasing  general  effect,  and  has  a  sort  of 
beauty,  till  one  discovers  that  the  undique  collata  membra  belong 
in  parts  to  Luther,  Calvin,  and  the  Pope,  and  make  up  the  Hora- 
tian  Hionster — 


" -■ ut  turpiter  atrum 

Desinat  in  piscem  mulier  formosa  superne." 

In  some  of  our  American  writers,  what  Mr.  Longfellow  so  refines 
and  spiritualizes,  usually  goes  on  the  ground,  and  eats  dirt  without 
disguise.  "  Jehovah,  Jove,  or  Lord,"  is  the  only  creed  of  many  popu- 
lar authors,  and  a  debased  morality  is  the  inevitable  consequence. 
Of  this  we  have  an  extreme  instance  in  the  unhappy  Poe,  who  seems 
never  to  have  conceived  of  any  such  idea  as  that  of  the  truth.  Shel- 
ley and  Byron,  whom  he  imitates  in  a  coarse  way,  pay  tribute  to 
the  Church  and  to  the  literature  of  our  language,  so  far  as  they 
show  that  they  are  quite  conscious  of  their  rebellion  against  a  pure 
morality  and  a  definite  doctrinal  Christianity ;  but  of  Poe  it  must  be 
said  that  he  seems  wholly  ignorant  that  sin  is  not  virtue,  and  that 
blasphemy  is  not  adoration.  This  is  the  level  to  which  the  nume- 
rous godless  schools  and  colleges  of  America  are  fast  degrading  us. 
Oh !  that  authors  of  the  nobler  sort  would — 

'•  Rise  to  truth,  and  moralize  their  song," 

and  so  contribute  something  to  the  arrest  of  that  national  corrup- 
tion to  which  all  things  gravitate  rapidly.  Or,  are  we  doomed  to 
see  a  revolt  of  the  minds  and  consciences  of  our  countrymen  from 
all  recognized  standards  of  truth  and  right  ? 

The  poetry  of  "Wordsworth  and  Southey  cannot  be  too  freely  used 
in  education.  The  Ecclesiastical  Sketches  of  the  former  should  be 
read  with^Southey's  Book  of  the  Church.  Bishop  Mant's  Sonnets 
are  not  unworthy  of  particular  mention. 

M. 

Benefactors.  The  names  of  these  three  Christian  heroes — Bray, 
Blair,  and  Berkeley — would  be  as  familiarly  known  as  those  of 


38  NOTES. 

Lafayette,  Kosciusko,  and  Pulaski,  if  our  countrymen  were  wont  to 
estimate  moral  benefits  as  justly  as  they  do  the  services  of  our  mili- 
tary allies.  For  the  most  accessible  information  concerning  their 
disinterested  and  self-sacrificing  lives,  consult  Sprague's  "  Annals.'^ 

N. 
Berkeley.     Among  Mr.  Tuckerman's  mteresting  "Biographical 
Essays"  will  be  found   one  on  Bishop  Berkeley,  well  worthy  of 
being    read.      Everybody  knows  his  noble  verses  ''On  plawiting 
Letters  in  America."     May  his  generous  predictions  be  realized ! 

0. 

Milton.  At  the  early  age  of  three-and-thirty,  Milton  undertook 
to  match  himself  with  the  giants  of  intellect  and  learning  who 
were  then  ranged  on  the  Church's  side,  "  being  willing,"  he  says, 
"to  help  the  Puritans,  who  were  inferior  to  the  prelates  in  learning.'^ 
But  in  this  attempt  he  seems  to  have  felt  his  own  failure,  for  he 
acknowledges  himself  "  not  disposed  to  this  manner  of  writing,"  and 
adds,  "  wherein  knowing  myself  inferior  to  myself,  led  by  the  genial 
power  of  nature  to  another  task,  I  have  the  use,  as  I  may  account 
it,  hut  of  my  left  hand.^'  In  other  words,  in  his  Puritanism  he  did 
violence  to  his  genius,  and  made  a  left-hand  marriage,  the  fruit  of 
which  has  been  his  lasting  reproach. 

P. 

Suggestion.  We  need  new  editions  of  The  Scholar  Armed, 
Law's  Letters  to  the  Bishop  of  Bangor,  Leslie's  Short  Method, 
Waterland's  Regeneration  and  Justification,  Scott's  Christian  Life, 
and  other  old-fashioned  Church-books,  which  contributed  greatly 
to  the  forming  of  our  earlier  American  Churchmen. 

Q. 

Anecdote.  An  eminent  Presbyterian  divine  once  remarked,  in 
the  author's  hearing,  that  "  nothing  but  his  conscientious  convictions 
could  keep  him  out  of  a  Church  which  belongs  to  the  history  of  the 
race,  and  which  is  identified  with  the  Literature  of  our  mother 
tongue."  He  felt  it  to  be  a  misfortune  that  he  could  not  conform ; 
and  in  this  confession,  if  he  paid  a  just  tribute  to  the  Church,  he  did 
honour  to  himself,  not  only  as  making  sacrifices  to  his  honest  views 


NOTES.  39 

of  duty,  but  as  having  the  elevated  taste  and  mental  power  to  appre- 
ciate the  vast  advantages  which  Churchmen  possess  in  this  enno- 
bling inheritance. 

R. 
Resourcns.  The  publications  of  the  Christian  Knowledge  Society 
many  of  which  are  very  desirable,  may  now  be  ordered  through 
our  society.  A  moment's  comparison  of  its  catalogues  with  those 
of  any  of  our  Mixed  Societies,  will  enable  any  one  to  see  for  himself 
the  advantage  possessed  by  it,  as  being  entirely  under  the  control 
of  the  Church,  and  so  enabled  to  reproduce  standard  works  without 
mutilation.  The  Bible  Commentary  of  D^Oyly  and  Mant,  in  three 
imperial  octavos,  beautifully  printed  on  linen  paper,  and  illustrated 
with  maps  (it  contains  also  the  Apocrypha),  may  be  had,  at  a  very 
low  price,  from  the  press  of  the  C.  K.  S.,  and  it  ought  to  be  found 
in  every  family  library.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  if  Bishop  Ho- 
bart's  valuable  additions  to  this  Commentary  might  be  incorporated 
with  the  English  edition. 

S. 
Decline  of  Morals.  The  tendency  of  our  popular  literature  has 
been  to  Germanize  education  in  our  country,  rather  than  to  make  it 
emulate  the  system  of  Eton  and  Oxford,  or  the  Rugby  system,  so 
happily  illustrated  by  the  author  of  Tom  Brown's  School-days. 
Had  Irving's  influence  been  unchecked  by  that  of  others,  we  should 
have  found  our  young  men  in  colleges  taking  as  naturally  to  caps 
and  gowns,  and  cricket  and  chess,  as  they  now  do  to  the  meerschaum 
and  blouses ;  and  as  willing  to  imitate  the  May-day  hymn  on  Mag- 
dalen Tower  as  they  now  are  to  keep  up  the  Gaudeamus  igitur, 
with  all  the  accompaniments  of  a  Heidelberg  debauch.  The  conse- 
quences of  our  low  college-morals  may  be  seen  in  Congress,  and 
everywhere  else,  among  those  who  rank  as  educated  men.  Where 
now  do  we  see  the  manners  of  Hamilton  and  Jay,  and  of  the  elder 
statesmen  of  Virginia  ?  TVe  have  every  reason  to  fear  that  this 
Germanizing  mania  will  not  long  forbear  to  introduce  the  duelling 
and  other  customs  of  the  Rhine-land,  by  which  the  bursch  is  distin- 
guished from  the  fuchs.  The  only  resource  of  parents  is  to  be 
found  in  our  rising  Church-colleges. 


40  NOTES. 

T. 

English  Literatun  our  Own.  I  quote  the  author  to  whom  1  have 
referred,  as  follows : 

"  Whether  we  will  or  no,  the  phraseology  and  diction  of  Shak- 
speare,  of  the  Protestant  formularies^ — ^he  means  the  5ible  and 
Prayer-book — "  of  Milton,  of  Pope,  of  Johnson's  Table-talk,  and  of 
Walter  Scott,  have  become  a  portion  of  the  vernacular  tongue;  the 
household  words  of  which,  perhaps,  we  little  guess  the  origin,  and 

the  very  idioms  of  our  familiar  conversation So  tyrannous 

is  the  literature  of  a  nation;  it  is  too  much  for  us.  We  cannot  de- 
stroy or  reverse  it English  literature  will  ever  have  been 

Protestant;"  by  which  he  means  Anglican.  "Swift  and  Addison, 
the  most  native  and  natural  of  our  writers.  Hooker  and  Milton,  the 
most  elaborate,  never  can  become  our  co-religionists." — Newman's 
"  University  Subjects,"  p.  91. 

Let  these  remarks  of  one  who  has  sold  his  birthright,  be  con- 
sidered in  connection  with  the  principles  of  this  sermon,  and  let  ug 
do  all  in  our  power  to  make  the  literature  of  America  "  too  much 
for  them ;" — I  mean  Jesuits  and  Liguorians.  It  is  worth  adding, 
that  Mr.  Newman's  vast  superiority  to  all  those  who  surround  him, 
and  who  were  trained  as  Romanists,  demonstrates  the  greatness  of 
these  blessings  of  his  former  lot,  for  which  he  makes  such  ungrate- 
ful returns  to  man  and  to  his  God. 

U. 

The  Six  Principles.  This  has  been  shown  more  fully  by  Bishop 
Potter,  in  his  remarks  on  the  S.  S.  Union,  published  with  the  essay 
on  "  Mixed  Societies,"  by  the  author  of  this  sermon 

V. 

The  Probable  Future.  If  the  reading  of  a  youth,  in  Yale  Col- 
lege, in  the  year  1720,  when  the  Church  had  hardly  any  real  exist- 
ence in  the  land,  has  resulted  in  the  founding  of  such  a  Church  as 
now  exists  in  the  diocese  of  Connecticut  (and  that  in  spite  of  the 
strong  hold  which  the  Puritans  then  had  upon  the  whole  of  New- 
England),  what  may  not  be  the  result,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  on 
the  labours  of  this  Society,  in  our  West  and  elsewhere,  under  an  effi- 
cient episcopate,  and  with  the  means  we  now  possess  to  enlarge 
our  work  ?  The  reader  is  referred  to  the  Life  of  Dr.  Johnson,  in 
Sprague's  "  Annals." 


NOTES.  41 

This  allusion  to  New-Haven  reminds  the  author  that  a  closing 
word  is  due  to  our  periodical  literature,  and  to  the  claims  of  the 
Church  Review,  pubhshed  in  that  city.  Considering  the  great  ob- 
stacles encountered  by  Dr.  Richardson,  its  editor,  in  the  establish- 
ment and  support  of  such  a  work,  he  deserves  very  high  praise  for 
the  length  of  time  during  which  he  has  kept  it  up,  and  for  the 
amount  of  ability  with  which  it  is  sustained.  Every  family  should 
be  supplied,  in  addition  to  a  well-selected  Church  newspaper,  with 
such  a  guide  to  intelligent  opinion  upon  contemporary  subjects.  In 
conclusion,  the  author  would  express  his  hope  that  the  admirable 
papers  of  H.  D.  Evans,  Esq.,  for  so  many  years  contributed  to  the 
True  Catholic,  and  so  commendable  for  profound  thought,  as  well 
as  for  a  singular  perspicuity  and  propriety  of  style,  may  soon  be 
collected,  and  made  a  permanent  portion  of  the  growing  wealth  of 
our  American  Church. 

W. 

Suggestions  for  a  Library. — With  the  kind  assistance  of 
several  friends,  I  have  thrown  together  a  list  of  the  works  which 
are  likely  to  be  found  most  useful  in  parochial  and  domestic  libra- 
ries. In  country  parishes  much  good  might  be  done  by  the  union 
of  families,  each  family  agreeing  to  purchase  a  select  portion  from 
this  list,  (so  that  nearly  all  might  be  found  in  the  town  or  village,) 
and  to  lend  mutually,  on  terms  and  for  times  pre-arranged.  Those 
works  marked  (a)  with  an  Alpha,  are  such  as  have  been  approved 
by  the  Committee  of  General  Literature. 

A  moment's  glance  at  this  list  will  suggest  to  the  critic  many 
objections.  It  enumerates  some  works  that  are  rather  professional 
than  popular :  some  that  are  liable  to  censure  on  this  ground  or 
that;  and  it  omits  many  that  are  useful  and  important  to  a  Parish 
Library,  if  not  to  a  domestic  one.  Further,  it  is  not  carefully  ar- 
ranged, much  less  digested  into  a  plan  so  as  to  exhibit  comparative 
merit.  All  this  is  true — and  it  is  equally  true,  notwithstanding, 
that  it  is  a  list  on  which  all  the  time  and  thought  possible  (amid 
other  engagements,  and  while  these  sheets  were  passing  the  press) 
have  been  expended.  There  are  reasons  for  omissions  and 
for  insertions,  which  have  suggested  themselves,  but  which  it 
would  be  tedious  to  express.     Suffice  it,  that  a  judicious  pastor,  by 


42 


NOTES. 


the  use  of  his  lead-pencil,  may,  with  this  help,  direct  the  attention 
of  a  parishioner  in  a  few  minutes,  to  many  books  suitable  for  his 
reading,  which  might  otherwise  be  overlooked.  Popular  books 
are  at  everybody's  hand,  and  we  need  not  put  them  into  such  a 
record.  Of  this  class,  such  as  are  here  specified  are  those  about 
which  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they  supply  a  popular  necessity 
not  otherwise  met.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  an  approved  list,  well 
arranged,  and  as  full  as  possible,  may  soon  be  issued  by  the  Church 
Book  Society. 


1.  Biblical. 

a  Doyly  and  Mant's  Commentary. 
a  Plain  Commentary  on  the  Gospels. 
a      ''  "  "       Psalms. 

Hall's  Notes  on  the  Gospels. 

English  Harmony  in  Paragraphs  and 
Parallelisms.     (Parker,  Oxford.) 

Hawkins'  Psalter. 

Westcott's  History  of  the  Canon. 

Goulbourne's  Lectures  on  Inspiration. 

Paley's  Horse  Paulinse. 
a  Conybeare  and  Howson's  St.  Paul. 

Anderson's  Annals  of  the  English  Bible. 

Lee's  Inspiration  of  Scripture. 

Williams'  Study  of  the  Go.^pels. 

Westcott's  Principles  of  the  Harmony. 

Jones'  Figurative  Language  of  Scrip- 
ture. 

Bp.  Hall's  Explication  of  Hard  Texts. 

Sumner's  Practical  Reflections. 
a  Trench  on  Miracles. 
a       "         "  Parables. 

Home's  Introduction. 

Nichol's  Help  to  Study  of  the  Bible. 

2.  Devotional. 

a  Whole  Duty  of  Man. 

Scougal's  Life  of  God  in  the  Soul. 
a  Wilson's  Sacra  Privata,  .'Denton's  new 
Edition.) 


Hobart's  (Bp.)  Christian  Manual. 
Andrewes'  Preces    Privatae,  or  Deyo- 

tions. 
Hobart's  (J.  H.)  Instructions  for  Lent. 
Kip's  Lenten  Fast. 
Sutton's  Disce  Vivere  and  Disce  Mori. 
a  Taylor's  Holy  Living  and  Dying,  and 
Golden  Grove. 
Spincke's  Devotions. 
Law's  Serious  Call. 
Sherlock's  Practical  Christian, 
Patrick's  Parable  of  the  Pilgrim. 
"        Repentance  and  Fasting. 
"        on  Prayer. 
"        Advice  to  a  Friend. 
a  Mant's  Happiness  of  the  Blessed. 

3.  Theological. 

Mcllvaine's  Evidences. 
Wordsworth's  Christian  Institutes. 
Kaye's  Tertullian. 
"      Justin  Martyr. 
"      Clement  of  Alexandria. 
Butler's  Analogy. 

"        Ethical  Sermons.  (Passmore'a 
Edition.) 
Sewell's  Christian  Morals. 
Shuttleworth's  Consistency  of  Revela- 
tion,  (Harper's  edition.) 
Leighton's  Works 


NOTES. 


43 


Taylor's  Works.    (Several   cheap  edi- 
tions.) 

Barrow's  Works. 

Home's  Works. 

Tyrrell  on  the  Ritual. 

Mant's  Holy-Days. 

Nelson's  Festivals  and  Fasts. 

Staunton's  Church  Dictionary. 

Hook's  "  " 

Dorr's  Churchman's  Manual. 
a  Browne  on  the  Articles. 
a  Pearson  on  the  Creed. 
a  Brownell  on  the  Common  Prayer. 
a  Wheatley     **  "  « 

Humphrey   "  "  " 

a  Hallam  on  the  Morning  Prayer. 

Procter's    History    ef    the    Common 
Prayer. 
a  Blunt's  Undesigned  Coincidences. 
a  Blunt's  Parish  Priest. 

Tyler's  Primitive  Worship. 

Hind's  Progress  of  Christianity. 

Burton's  Divinity  of  Christ. 

«  the  Holy  Ghost. 

a  Faber's  Difficulties  of  Infidelity. 

"  "  Romanism. 

a  Moberly's  Great  Forty  Days. 
a  Kip's  Double-Witness. 

Waterland  on  the  Athanasian   Creed. 
(C.  K.  S.  Edition.) 

Bp.    Hopkins'    (Vermont)     Letters    to 
Kenrick,  and  other  Works. 

Butler's  (W.  A.)  Letters  on  Romanism. 

Scudamore's  England  and  Rome. 

Wordsworth  on  the  Apocalypse. 

Lay's  (Bp.)  Tracts  for  Missionary  Use. 
a  Morgan  on  Infidelity. 

Craik's  Search  of  Truth. 

Wilson's  Church  Identified. 

Leslie's  Short  Method  with  Deists. 


Faber's  Primitive  Doctrine  of  Election. 

Macdonnel  on  the  Atonement. 

Jerram  on  Infant  Baptism. 

Wall's  History  of  Infant  Baptism. 

Hussey's  Rise  of  the  Papal  Power. 

Palmer's  Letters  to  Wiseman. 

Theophilns  Americanus.   (Evans'.) 

Laborde  on  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion.  (Translation.) 

Jarvis'  Church  of  the  Redeemed. 

Gifford's  Unison  of  the  Liturgy. 

West  on  the  Resurrection. 

Hobart's  State  of  the  Departed. 

Adams'  Christian  Science. 
"        Mercy  to  Babes. 

Bp.  Bull's  Vindication  of  the  Church 
of  England.  (Bait.  Edition.) 

Vincent  of  Lerins.    (    "  ) 

Wilson's  English  Reformation. 
"         Church  Principles. 

Lawrence's  Bampton  Lectures. 

Bethell  on  Regeneration. 

Palmer  on  Romanism. 

Rome's  Moral  Theology.  (Meyrick. 
Bait.  Edition.) 

Evans'  Anglican  Ordinations.  (Bait. 
Edition.) 

Cosin's  History  of  Transubstantiation. 

Beaven's  Intercourse  between  the 
Church  of  England  and  the  Churches 
of  the  East. 

Southgate's  Syrian  Churches. 

Barrow  on  the  Pope's  Supremacy. 

Wake's  Apostolic  Fathers. 

Kaye's  (Bp.)  Government  and  Disci 
pline  of  the  Church. 

Miss  Sewell's  Readings  for  Every  Day 
in  Lent. 

Miss  Sewell's  Readings  for  a  Month  be- 
fore Confirmation, 


44 


NOTES. 


Daubeny's  Guide  to  the  Church. 
Jones  on  the  Trinity. 
"Waterland  on  the  Trinity. 

4.  Sermons. 

a  W.  Archer  Butler's  Sermons. 
Melville's    '  " 

Le  Bas'  « 

Bp.  Armstrong's  " 

Monroe's  •' 

Ninety  Short  Sermons. 
Sermons  for  the  Seasons.  (Parker's  Ed.) 
Barrow's  Sermons. 
Bp.  Sanderson's  Sermons. 
Wainwright's  " 

Home's  " 

Porteus'  *' 

Bp.  Dehon's  '' 

Horsley's  " 

Chapman's  Sermons  on  the  Church. 
Heber's  Sermons. 
Dr.  Lewis'  Sermons. 

6.  History. 

Annals  of  England,  3  vols.  Parker,  Ox- 
ford. 
c  Churton's  Early  English  Church. 
a  Soames's  Anglo-Saxons. 
a  Palgrave's  Anglo-Saxons. 
Dr.  Colt's  Lectures  on  Early  English 
Church. 
a  Massingberd's  Reformation. 
a  Palmer's  History  of  the  Church. 
Russell's  History  of   the  Church  of 

Scotland. 
Turner's  Sacred  History  of  the  World. 
Wilberforce's  Five  Empires. 
Cave's  Primitive  Christianity. 
o  Anderson's  Church  of  England  in  the 
Colonies. 


Badger's  Nestoriaus  and  their  Ritual. 

Bates'  Christian  Antiquities. 

B  ingham's  Christian  Antiquities,  2  vols. 

(cheap  Bungay  Ed.) 
Eusebius'  Eccl.  History.  (Translation.) 
"         Life  of  Constantino.   (Trans- 
lation.   Bohn's  Ed.)' 
Millers  Philosophy  of  History. 
Tytler's  History  of  Scotland. 
Smedley"s  Sketches  from  Venetian  His- 
tory. 
Smedley'sHist.  of  the  Church  of  France. 
Neale's  Eastern  Church. 
Mouravieffs  Russian  Church. 
Anjou's  (Mason's  Translation)  Swedish 

Church. 
Riddle's  Manual  of  Christian  Antiqui- 
ties. 
Blunt's  Sketch  of  the  Reformation. 
a  Southey's  Book  of  the  Church. 
a  Fuller's  Church  History. 
a  Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion. 
a  Burnet's  Own  Times. 
a  D'lsraeli's  Charles  L 
a  Evelyn's  Diary  and  Letters. 
a  Carwithen's  History  of  the  Church  of 
England. 
Coit's  Puritanism. 
Bp.    White's   Memoirs    of    American 

Church. 
Spencer's  (J.  A.)  Reformation. 
a  Robertson's  First  Five  Centuries. 
a  Hardwicke's  Reformation. 
a  "  Middle  Ages. 

Blunt's  (J.   J.)  Five  Lectures  on  the 

Church  in  the  First  Two  Centuries. 
Blunt's  Study  of  the  Fathers. 
Poole's  Life  and  Times  of  St.  Cyprian. 
Russell's    Connection  of   Sacred   and 
Profane  Literature, 


NOTES. 


45 


6.  Biography. 

Cave's  Lives  of  the  Apostles. 
"  "        "        Fathers. 

R.  "W.  Evans'  Biography  of  the  Early 
Church. 

Hook's  Ecclesiastical  Biography 

Rose's  Biographical  Dictionary. 

Chandler's  Life  of  Wykeham. 
o  Le  Bas'  "    "    Wiclif. 

a      "  "    "    Cranmer. 

a      "  "     Laud. 

Le  Bas'  Life  of  JeweL 
a  "Walton's  Lives. 

Heber's  Life  of  Jeremy  Taylor. 

Nelson's  Life  of  Bp.  Bull. 

Patrick's  (Bp.)  Autobiography. 

Burgon's  Life  of  Sir  T.  Gresham. 
"  "     "  P.  F.  Tytler. 

Johnson's  Lives  of  the  Poets. 
a  Boswell's  Life  of  Johnson.  (Illustrated. 
r2mo.  London.) 

Tytler's    (P.  F.)    Life   of   Sir   Walter 
Raleigh. 

Southey's  Life  of  Wesley. 

Wilberforce's  Life  and  Letters. 

Wordsworth's  "    .  "         " 

Hannah  More's  Life  and  Letters. 

Prichard's  Life  of  Anselm. 

Prior's  Life  of  Burke. 

Tytler's  Lives  of  Scottish  Worthies. 

Wordsworth's  Ecclesiastical  Biography 

Evans'  (R.W.)  Scripture  Biography. 

Caswall's  Life  of  Leacock   (Martyr  of 
the  Pongas.) 

E.  D.  Griffin's  Remains. 

B.  D.  Winslow's  Remains. 

T.  W.  Eastburn's      " 

Wolfe's  " 

McYickar's  Hobart. 
a  Fuller's  Worthies. 


Herbert's  Two  Last  Years  of  Charles  1. 
a  Burnet's  Lives.   (Jebb's  Edition.) 

Sprague's  (Fifth  "Volume)  Annals. 
a  Heber's    Life    and    Journals,   by    hi3 
Widow. 

Last  Days  of  Bp.  Heber. 

Bp.  Chase's  Reminiscences. 

Life  of  Bishop  White.   (Wilson.) 
'«     »  Suckling. 
a    "      "  Headley  Vicars. 

Life  of  Thos.  Cole,  by  Noble. 

Life  of  John  Howard. 

Southey's  Life  of  Cowper. 
a  Life  of  Henry  Martin.  (Thomason.) 

Life  of  Bishop  Armstrong. 
"     Robert  Nelson. 

7.  Poetry. 

a  Herbert's  Poems. 

a  Keble's  Christian  Year. 

Lyra  Apostolica. 
a  Wordsworth's  Works. 
a  Southey's  Works. 

Spenser's  Faery-Queen. 

Herrick's  Noble  liumbers. 

Wiffen's  Tasso. 

Cary's  Dante. 

H.  K.  White's  Works. 

Bp.  Heber's  Poems. 

Cowper's  Poems. 

Mrs.  Hemans'  Poems, 

Hillhouse's  Poems, 
a  Bp.  Mant's  Sonnets. 

Bowles'  Sonnets. 

Mrs.  Southey's  Poems. 

Lyra  Germanica. 

Christmas  with  the  Poets. 

Thomsoji's  Seasons. 

Goldsmith's  Poems. 

Crabbe's  Poems. 

Cleveland  Psalter. 


46 


NOTES. 


Keble's  Psalter. 

Burgess'  (Bp.  of  Maine)  Psalter. 

Dr.  Muhlenberg's  Poems. 

CroswelFs  Poems.     (In  press.) 

Clement  C.  Moore's  Poems. 

R.  H.  Dana's  Poems. 

Doane's  Poems.     (In  press.) 

8.  Miscellany. 

Addison's  Works. 

Johnson's      *' 

Burke's  Works. 

Bacon's  Essays. 

Beveridge's  Private  Thoughts. 

Brown's  (Sir  Thomas)  Works. 
a  Walton's  Angler. 

Cecil's  Remains. 

Edmonson's  Christian  Gentleman. 

De  Foe's  Journal  of  the  Plague. 

Irving's  Works. 

Verplanck's  Essays. 
a  Kip's  Early  Conflicts  of  Christianity. 
a    "      Christmas  Holidays  in  Rome. 
a    "      Catacombs. 

Lander's  Expedition  on  the  Niger. 

Coleridge's  Aids  to  Reflection.  (McVick- 
ar's.) 

Coleridge's  (Bp.)  Six  Months  in  West- 
Indies. 

Gleig's  History  of  British  India. 

Jebb's  Correspondence. 

Prichard's  Natural  History  of  Man. 

Mudie's  Birds. 

White's  Selborne. 

Russell's  Palestine. 

"         Nubia  and  Abyssinia. 

Russell's  Egypt. 

Caswall's  Church  in  America. 

"  Western  World  Revisited. 

"  Church  in  Scotland. 


Paget's  Tales. 
Gresley's  Tales. 
Feltham's  Resolves. 
Goldsmith's  Vicar  of  Wakefield. 
a  Records  of  a  Good  Man's  Life. 
Rectory  of  Valehead. 
Scenes  in  Our  Parish. 
a  Herbert's  Country  Parson. 
Tracts  for  the  Christian  Seasons. 
Palgrave's  Merchant  and  Friar. 
Bloxam's  Gothic  Architecture. 
Glossary  of  Architecture.    (Parker,  Ox- 
ford.) 
Barr's  Anglican  Architecture. 
Calendar  of  the  Anglican  Church  Il- 
lustrated. 
Markland  on  English  Churches. 
Cattermole's  Literature  of  the  Church 
of  England. 
a  Reed's  Lectures  on  English  History. 
a       "  "  "        "   ■     Literature. 

a  Hudson's  Lectures  on  Shakespeare. 
a  Buchanan's  Researches. 
B.  Montague's  Selections  from  Old  Eng- 
lish Divines. 
Spencer's  Selections  from  Old  English 

Divines. 
Dean  Trench's  Works. 
Warburton's  Crescent  and  Cross. 
Luther's  Table  Talk. 
Neale's  Latin  Hymns. 
Layard's  Nineveh. 
Cattermole's    Sacred    Poetry    of    the 

XVII.  Century. 
Mrs,  Southey's  Chapters  on  Church- 
yards. 
Selections  from  Hooker. 
Bp.  Andrewe's  Select  Works. 
Bp.  Wilson's     "  " 


NOTES. 


47 


South's  Select  Works, 

Bp.  Pearson's         " 

Jones  (of  Nayland)  Letters  of  a  Tutor. 
"  '•  Book  of  Nature. 

Bell  on  the  Hand. 

Bogefs  Bridgewater  Treatise. 

Hftrvey's  Book  of  Christmas. 

Thomas  a  Kempis. 
a  Pascal's  Thoughts  and  Provincial  Let- 
ters. 

St.  Augustine's  Confessions. 

Cooper's  (Miss)  Rural  Hours. 

Willmott's  (R.  A.)  Summer  Time  in  the 
Country. 


Legion,  or  Feigned  Excuses,  by  Leakin. 

Legh  Richmond's  Works. 

Practical  Christian's  Library.  (Selec- 
tions from  Old  Divines.) 

Half-Hours  with  the  Best  Authors. 

Letters  of  Wm.  Cowper. 

Evans'  Tales  of  the  Ancient  British 
Church. 

Maxims  of  Washington  (Schroeder's.) 

The  East,  Sketches  of  Travel  in  Egypt 
and  the  Holy  Land,  By  J.  A.  Spencer, 
D.  D. 

Heber's  Journey  through  India. 

Bishop  Wainwright's  Travels. 


X. 

Corroborations. — While  these  pages  were  detained  in  the 
hands  of  the  printer,  new  signs  of  the  times  have  been  supplying 
evidence  of  the  views  I  have  endeavoured  to  support^  concerning 
the  mission  of  the  Church,  amid  the  manifold  sectarianism  of 
America.  The  Romanists,  by  the  political  manifesto  of  "  nine 
bishops,"  have  thrown  off  the  mask,  and  allied  themselves,  openly, 
with  the  spirit  of  arbitrary  power,  and  confessed  that  the  temporal 
as  well  as  the  spiritual  claims  of  the  Pope  are  virtually  part  of 
their  religion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  New-York  Observer,  a 
prominent  organ  of  popular  religion,  informs  us  that  ''not  a  week 
passes  without  fresh  evidence  of  a  lamentable  defection  from  the 
truth  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  ministers  and  churches  in  New- 
England."  The  late  movement  among  Unitarians  shows  that  a 
reaction  is  beginning  among  them,  and  that  the  Church  is  mani- 
festing itself  more  and  more  to  earnest  and  reflecting  minds,  as  the 
only  resource  of  a  healthful  and  genuine  loyalty  to  Christ. 

To  such  minds,  therefore,  we  commend  a  re-examination  of  the 
English  Reformation,  believing  that  it  may  lead  them  to  more  just 
ideas  of  the  true  character  of  that  Church  from  which  their  fathers 
broke  off  in  a  spirit  of  rash,  though  conscientiou.s,   experiment. 

And  as  introductory  to  such  researches,  we  ask  the  considerate 
reading  of  the  following  paragraph  from  Dr.  TuUoch,  (an  eminent 
divine  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,)  on  the  spirit  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 


48 


NOTES. 


land,  as  contrasted  with  the  individualism  and  consequent  narrowness 
of  Sect.  Although  there  are  expressions  in  it  which  mark  it  as 
written  by  a  Presbyterian,  it  is,  nevertheless,  such  a  candid  and 
generous  tribute  to  the  Church  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  that  it 
must  be  read  with  benefit  by  any  one. 

'^From  the  beginning  this  Church  repudiated  the  distinct 
guidance  of  any  theoretical  principles,  however  exalted  and  ap- 
parently Scriptural.  It  held  fast  to  its  historical  position,  as  a 
great  Institute,  still  living  and  powerful  under  all  the  corruptions 
which  had  overlaid  it ;  and  while  submitting  to  the  irresistible  in- 
fluence of  reform  which  swept  over  it,  as  over  other  Churches  in 
the  sixteenth  centurj'-,  it  refused  to  be  refashioned  according  to 
any  new  model.  It  broke  away  from  the  medieval  bondage,  under 
M^hich  it  had  always  been  restless,  and  destroyed  the  gross  abuses 
which  had  sprung  out  of  it ;  it  rose  in  attitude  of  proud  and  suc- 
cessful resistance  to  Rome ;  but  in  doing  all  this,  it  did  not  go  to 
Scripture,  as  if  it  had  once  more,  and  entirely  anew,  to  find  there  the 
principles  either  of  doctrinal  truth  or  practical  government  and  dis- 
cipline. Scripture  indeed  was  eminently  the  condition  of  its  revival; 
hut  Scripture  was  not  made  anew  the  foundation  of  its  existence. 
There  was  too  much  of  old  historical  life  in  it  to  seek  any  new  foun- 
dation :  the  new  must  grow  out  of  the  old,  and  fit  itself  into  the 
old.  The  Church  of  England  was  to  be  reformed,  but  not  re- 
constituted. Its  life  was  too  vast ;  its  influence  too  varied;  its  rela- 
tions  too  complicated — touching  the  national  existence  in  all  its 
multiplied  expressions,  at  too  many  points — to  he  capable  of  heing 
reduced  to  any  neiv  and  definite  form  in  more  supposed  uniformity 
with  the  model  of  Scripture,  or  the  simplicity  of  the  Primitive 
Church.  Its  extensive  and  manifold  organism  was  to  be  reani- 
mated by  new  life,  but  not  remoulded  according  to  any  arbitrary 
or  novel  theory .- ,  The  spirit,  at  once  progressive  and  con- 
servative, comprehensive  rather  than  intensive,  historical  and  not 
dogmatical,  is  one  eminently  characteristic  of  the  English  mind, 
and  as  it  appears  to  us,  in  the  highest  degree  characteristic  of  the 
English  Reformation." 


